As you listen to them on the tournament coverage, you can almost imagine them telling each other during commercial breaks, "You complete me."

Although they might use a different phrase.

What still comes across the screen is that Lundquist, 72, and Raftery, 69, connect with viewers -- even much younger ones. Their games often include shots of fans in the stands wearing paper masks picturing the announcers.

"You're being very tender here. Are you trying to call me old without saying it?" Raftery says. "I do enjoy the kids, the fans, the support system they give their teams and us. It sort of carries you."

Lundquist says their chemistry was obvious right from the start when they worked two college games together in 1982.

"The CBS guys in New York said we were 'great' together, that we'd be assigned to work together again soon," Lundquist tells USA TODAY Sports.

Well, here's today's lesson on how things work in the TV sports biz.

They worked together again, says Lundquist, chuckling. "But it took 17 years."

So they worked apart, then Lundquist was at Turner Sports for three years after CBS lost the NFL in the 1990s.

CBS Sports head Sean McManus finally put them together on the 2000 NCAA tournament -- and they have been teamed since.

They aren't the longest-running announcer pair on CBS/Turner NCAA coverage – Ian Eagle, who used to call New Jersey Nets games with Raftery, and Jim Spanarkel have been paired at the tournament since 1998.

But individually, Lundquist and Raftery have worked the most tournaments of any of the current announcers. This is Raftery's 31st tournament assignment; junior partner Lundquist is on No. 29. (Lead CBS NCAA announcer Jim Nantz is on No. 28.)

Lundquist says he doesn't want to be "self-aggrandizing or anything, but yes, there's a generation or two of fans that have come along since we started. But viewers see we interact with the children -- holy (expletive) I didn't mean to say 'children' -- and we're not condescending towards the kids."

But Raftery is also idiosyncratic, as noting Thursday during the Marquette-Miami game that a strong move to the hoop showed how "a derriere can come in handy."

To newcomers to NCAA action, here's a primer:

Expect to hear Raftery talk about defenders being faked out of their "lingerie," and that tough players have, uh, "onions."

The "onions" reference, says Raftery, just popped out of his mouth during Nets games in the 1990s and is meant only "to describe tough innards. Some interpreters have said I really mean something else." Go figure.

Singling out "lingerie" became a way of not saying the basketball cliché associated with faking out an opponent. "I hate the word 'jock,' " Raftery says. " Not when there's kids at home watching." And no doubt talking about onions.

Still, Raftery says those catchphrases haven't exactly led to his being mobbed in public: "I don't have that problem at all. Even in my own house."

Sideline reporter Rachel Nichols, working with Lundquist and Raftery on her first NCAA tournament games after joining CNN/Turner Sports from ESPN, has found the pair to be "exactly the kind of guys off-air that they are on-air. It's nice to know the two guys on TV who you invite into your house and sound like they're sitting on your couch are just like that when you are sitting on a couch with them."

So how long will they be coming to our couches? "I never think of longevity, but just doing the best job I can each night," says Raftery.

"It's a privilege being involved in the tournament and we don't take it lightly," says Lundquist. "There is no exit plan."